On August 7, 2020, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sent a report, "Report on Barriers and Opportunities for High Voltage Transmission", to Congress addressing strategies for building more high-voltage (HV) transmission lines.[1] According to the report, HV transmission can improve the reliability and resilience of the transmission system “by allowing utilities to share generating resources, enhance the stability of the existing transmission system, aid with restoration and recovery after an event, and improve frequency response and ancillary services throughout the existing system.” HV voltage transmission also provides greater access to resources that are constrained by location such as wind turbines and offers opportunities to meet policy goals.

However, Commission staff found that while these opportunities exist, there are also barriers to HV transmission development. An example of a challenge pointed to in the report is that the siting of HV transmission requires navigating each state process. Many other authorizations and reviews are required at multiple government levels. It can take over a decade to develop a HV transmission facility that meets mandatory Reliability Standards, maximizes system benefits, and strikes a balance among interested stakeholders. To remedy this, the report suggests that FERC may need to amend its Order 1000, which revised rules on transmission planning, allocating transmission costs, and competitive bidding but has not worked as intended and led to planning paralysis. Amending the order would help overcome hurtles to HV transmission development.

[1] https://cleanenergygrid.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Report-to-Congress-on-High-Voltage-Transmission_17June2020-002.pdf